I bought some new RAM and I've started overclocking. (Turns out my old RAM was shit and kept bottling it) Atm I'm at 3.2Ghz, with auto settings. If I were to aim for 3.6-4GHZ what kind of settings would I requiring
Atm I'm under the impression that the HT and NB link should be the same number, and between 1800 and 2200

IIRC, raising HT offers minimal performance gains and isn't worth the stress. NB should be around 2400-2600MHZ for best performance depending on your clocks. Click the link below for a chart that tells you what your NB should be at respective to your achieved clock speed.

Oh right, apparently there's minimal different between 1333MHz and 1600MHz for AMD, so keep the RAM at 1333 and work on tightening the CAS latency. 1333/C7 or C8 might be better than 1600MHz/C9. Benchmark your system between the 2 and see which numbers are higher.

IIRC, raising HT offers minimal performance gains and isn't worth the stress. NB should be around 2400-2600MHZ for best performance depending on your clocks. Click the link below for a chart that tells you what your NB should be at respective to your achieved clock speed.

Drop your NB, CPU Multi, and memory speeds and start cranking up the HT clock with your chip set at wherever your target voltage/heat dissipation is or will allow.

Start with 10Mhz jumps until it no longer boots, or runs stable, then drop back and go up n e at a time, usually a few passes of Super PI 32M will show instability (run on all cores), or Intel Burn in test, or whatever CPU test you prefer.

Write that number down. (For exampel HT Max = 245 Mhz)

Now drop it back to stock.

Now start increasing your NB speed, as was mentioned in the article increase your NB voltage to 1.25 or so and start turning it up one multi at a time until your system hangs or fails to pass a Super PI.

Write that down in Mhz.

Drop it back to stock and leave your CPU underclocked using the multiplier.

Set your memory voltage to its rated max.
Set your timings manually, I have found using Aida to read the EPP timings and voltage and starting there is a good idea for that base speed.
Start increasing your HT again until it no longer boots/or passes testing, using the simple pass in windows as well as whatever your preferred test suite may be.

Write that/those numbers down.

Apply the CPU multiplier that gets you within the nearest multiplier range for the NB speed to match up.

Example.

CPU 3700 Mhz
Multi 16.5
HT 225
Memory 3:8 (1200Mhz)
NB 2250

By matching up to the closest multipliers, then using HT to finish tuning a system to achieve the maximum speed on NB, Memory, and CPU with the timings we have we are able to extract the best performance.

If you are at the bleeding edge of where you wanted to end up try a tenth or two more voltage, if it doesn't help or if you get runaway temps you are past what I consider optimal stability point.

Drop your NB, CPU Multi, and memory speeds and start cranking up the HT clock with your chip set at wherever your target voltage/heat dissipation is or will allow.

Start with 10Mhz jumps until it no longer boots, or runs stable, then drop back and go up n e at a time, usually a few passes of Super PI 32M will show instability (run on all cores), or Intel Burn in test, or whatever CPU test you prefer.

Write that number down. (For exampel HT Max = 245 Mhz)

Now drop it back to stock.

Now start increasing your NB speed, as was mentioned in the article increase your NB voltage to 1.25 or so and start turning it up one multi at a time until your system hangs or fails to pass a Super PI.

Write that down in Mhz.

Drop it back to stock and leave your CPU underclocked using the multiplier.

Set your memory voltage to its rated max.
Set your timings manually, I have found using Aida to read the EPP timings and voltage and starting there is a good idea for that base speed.
Start increasing your HT again until it no longer boots/or passes testing, using the simple pass in windows as well as whatever your preferred test suite may be.

Write that/those numbers down.

Apply the CPU multiplier that gets you within the nearest multiplier range for the NB speed to match up.

Example.

CPU 3700 Mhz
Multi 16.5
HT 225
Memory 3:8 (1200Mhz)
NB 2250

By matching up to the closest multipliers, then using HT to finish tuning a system to achieve the maximum speed on NB, Memory, and CPU with the timings we have we are able to extract the best performance.

If you are at the bleeding edge of where you wanted to end up try a tenth or two more voltage, if it doesn't help or if you get runaway temps you are past what I consider optimal stability point.

Click to expand...

I'll start over tomorrow using this method. Turns out memtest is shit. I passed woth 280 % coveage and still failed Prime95 blend

Finding the FSB max now, I'm up to 265. As long as the limit = no longer windows bootable
is it okay if something are slightly UNDERclocked? i.e. NB at 1860 for example

edit: okay. so I was able to boot windows with 300 FSB, which can't be right (?)
But it did crash just before I could make it to finish the post I WAS writing.. I'm on 290 FSB right now, seems a bit high doesn't it?

11:05: On 290 now, but 1 worked crashed on prime95 blend after 18 minutes.

Should I work down until I can get a stable prime95 8+ hours run or....

Finding the FSB max now, I'm up to 265. As long as the limit = no longer windows bootable
is it okay if something are slightly UNDERclocked? i.e. NB at 1860 for example

edit: okay. so I was able to boot windows with 300 FSB, which can't be right (?)
But it did crash just before I could make it to finish the post I WAS writing.. I'm on 290 FSB right now, seems a bit high doesn't it?

11:05: On 290 now, but 1 worked crashed on prime95 blend after 18 minutes.

Should I work down until I can get a stable prime95 8+ hours run or....

Click to expand...

You might need to increase the CPU's voltage a bit. If your motherboard has any features to stablise the voltage I suggest you use it too.

Try the range between 1.5v - 1.55v

Also remember FSB increases also overclocks the memory bus too, so make sure your memory is stable running at the new speeds too.

Alrighty then, so the fact i can still boot windows with a 300 FSB is... okay?

Click to expand...

Your CPU isn't running at 1.18v, that is cool & quiet and other features lowering the voltage when the CPU is relatively untaxed. It's probably running closer to 1.4v when its clocked high and in heavy usage.

Obviously you don't just bump the voltage straight to 1.5v. You move up in 0.10 increments and test for a few hours at every stage. You are trying to find the lowest voltage which gives a stable result.

Your CPU isn't running at 1.18v, that is cool & quiet and other features lowering the voltage when the CPU is relatively untaxed. It's probably running closer to 1.4v when its clocked high and in heavy usage.

Obviously you don't just bump the voltage straight to 1.5v. You move up in 0.10 increments and test for a few hours at every stage. You are trying to find the lowest voltage which gives a stable result.

Click to expand...

My Phenom II 940 ran at 1.35v stock iirc, I suspect most other Deneb chips are the same. 1.5v on my CPU ran pretty toastly at full load, so be careful with that. (I was using a Thermaltake Frio with a push-pull setup with two 150CFM fans. Let me tell you it gets very toasty at 1.5v+.

My Phenom II 940 ran at 1.35v stock iirc, I suspect most other Deneb chips are the same. 1.5v on my CPU ran pretty toastly at full load, so be careful with that. (I was using a Thermaltake Frio with a push-pull setup with two 150CFM fans. Let me tell you it gets very toasty at 1.5v+.

I actually overclock with Cool & Quiet on. Never made a difference. But for troubleshooting purposes I agree, turn C&Q off. When the rig is 100% rock solid stable, then enable it.

Click to expand...

I did as well. It keeps idle temps and power usage down even in a high overclock. There is no reason to eat more power when your rig is idling, even if your overclocked and a good 24/7 overclock should be able to handle C&Q lower power states.